Trailblazing 12

To mark International Women’s Day, and the first 100 years of women in the legal profession, we present 12 inspirational figures who helped bring women in the profession to where they are today

18th March 2019

Madge Easton Anderson, the first woman to be admitted as a professional lawyer anywhere in the United Kingdom (1920)

Lady Cosgrove was the first woman to serve as Sheriff of Glasgow and Strathkelvin (1979). Also the first woman to serve as a Sheriff of Lothian and Borders (1983) and the first woman to be appointed as a Senator of the College of Justice (1996).

Laura Dunlop QC, the first female Scottish Law Commissioner (2009). The Commission was founded in 1965.

Dame Margaret Kidd DBE KC, the first woman to be admitted to the Faculty of Advocates (1923). She was the first woman in the UK to become King’s Counsel (1948) and the first female sheriff principal (1960).

Lady Clark of Calton was the first Advocate General for Scotland (2000) and the first female chair of the Scottish Law Commission (2012)

The Rt Hon Nicola Sturgeon MSP qualified as a solicitor in 1995. She became the first female Deputy First Minister of Scotland (2007) and then the first female First Minister of Scotland (2014).

Ethel Houston OBE was the first female partner of a Scottish law firm (1949) and the first woman to be elected to the Council of the Law Society of Scotland (1975).

Dame Elish Angiolini DBE QC was the first woman to be appointed Solicitor General for Scotland (2001); also the first woman to be appointed Lord Advocate (2006), and the first solicitor to hold either of these posts.

The Rt Hon Lady Dorrian became the first female Lord Justice Clerk in 2016

Professor Sheila McLean, the first woman to be appointed Professor of Law at a Scottish University (Glasgow, 1990).

Caroline Flanagan, the first woman to be President of the Law Society of Scotland (2005).

Lady Hale, the first female Law Lord (2004), the first female Justice of the Supreme Court (2009), and the first female President of the United Kingdom Supreme Court (2017).